HTTP_location
HTTP location
Instruction by web server containing the intended location of a web page.
The HTTP Location header field is returned in responses from an HTTP server under two circumstances:
- To ask a web browser to load a different web page (URL redirection). In this circumstance, the Location header should be sent with an HTTP status code of 3xx. It is passed as part of the response by a web server when the requested URI has:
- Moved temporarily;
- Moved permanently; or
- Processed a request, e.g. a POSTed form, and is providing the result of that request at a different URI
- To provide information about the location of a newly created resource. In this circumstance, the Location header should be sent with an HTTP status code of 201 or 202.[1]
An obsolete version of the HTTP 1.1 specifications (IETF RFC 2616) required a complete absolute URI for redirection.[2] The IETF HTTP working group found that the most popular web browsers tolerate the passing of a relative URL[3] and, consequently, the updated HTTP 1.1 specifications (IETF RFC 7231) relaxed the original constraint, allowing the use of relative URLs in Location headers.[4]